Djibril Diop Mambéty

Born the son of a Muslim cleric in Colobane, near Dakar, Senegal, Djibril Diop

Mambéty received no formal training in filmmaking. He experimented with

theater, but in 1968, he was asked to leave an avant-garde theater group.

Shortly thereafter, he made his first film short called Badou Boy (1970), which

dealt with the life of a young renegade. By 1973, he directed his first feature,

Touki Bouki (1973), about disaffected youth, and it became an instant classic.

It would be nearly twenty years before he would create another film, Hyenas (1992), which is considered a sequel to Touki Bouki and a parable based on the classic play The Visit by Frederich Durrenmatt. Although his films were considered to be politically oriented, Mambéty rejected the realism preferred by most African filmmakers. His films were notable for their dream-like quality that left the themes of his films entirely to the interpretation of the viewer; this was, of course, the desired effect. In spite of the fact that Mambéty only completed a few short films and a meager two full-length features, the quality of his short body of work has rendered him legendary status among African filmmakers and, indeed, the international film community.

 

Credit: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0228013/bio?ref_=nm_ov_bio_sm

 

Filmography:

 

The Little Girl Who Sold the Sun (1999)

Le franc (Short) (1994)

Hyenas (1992)

Parlons grand-mère (1989)

Touki Bouki (1973)

Badou Boy (1970)

City of Contrasts (Short) (as Djibril Diop) (1969)